Episode description

In the first episode of Season 5, Becky talks to Sarah Fay—private Substack consultant, award-winning author at HarperCollins, and a member of the faculty at Northwestern University. Listen as Sarah discusses her personal journey through the mental health system and her decision to share her stories through writing. She also talks about her experience with landing a book deal, how she discovered Substack, and how impactful the platform has been for her writing career.     

During the episode, you’ll learn:  

• About Sarah and her work in the world.
• The life changes Sarah had to make on her path to recovery.
• What inspired Sarah to share about her mental health journey in such an open way.
• How Sarah landed her first book deal, and the motivation behind writing her memoir, Pathological.
• Some of the expectations vs. reality of selling a book. 
• The approaches Sarah took to building an online audience prior to the release of her first book. 
• The concept of serialization and why Sarah decided to serialize her second book, Cured.
• Why Sarah also released a serialized audio version of Cured. 
• Some of the controversy surrounding Substack.
• Why Sarah loves Substack. 
• Sarah’s journey with Substack and how much money a typical writer might expect to make on the platform. 
• Sarah’s best tips for people who want to show up in a more authentic way with their personal stories.

Don’t forget to check out our show notes, which include action steps and resources.

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